GUEST: I found it in Minneapolis at an estate sale about five, six years ago.

APPRAISER: Now, do you go often to estate sales looking for American silver?

GUEST: I love collecting coin silver, so I have quite a bit of it.

APPRAISER: Well, let's turn the pitcher over, and we'll see what it says on the bottom. We can see there's two marks there. The first is the maker's mark-- Jones, Ball and Poor. Many of the American makers did mark their silver very clearly with just their name. There are no halls of assay, so there are no hall or assayer's marks put on at this point. It also says there in very tiny little stamp "pure coin." And that's a mark you occasionally find on coin silver, but it's not a common mark. And coin silver is, as you know, it's a uniquely American form of silver. And it goes back much earlier than this pitcher, actually. In Colonial times, American silversmiths, of which there were relatively few, would often make their silver out of melted coinage, which is not of sterling silver standard. Sterling silver has a particular standard established in England centuries ago. But the American silver makers didn't adopt that until essentially after the Civil War. The piece was from a Boston silversmith that only operated for less than a decade or so, around 1850. But beyond that, we can date this one beautifully, because you've got a piece with great engraving. I know it mentions John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. And what it says in detail and what the Adams papers letter confirms is that the piece was presented by the House of Representatives to the owner of a boardinghouse in 1848. Adams spent the last 17 years of his life, by the way, serving in the House of Representatives, and he was actually in the House of Representatives when he suffered a stroke which, ultimately, two days later, led to his death. But so the House of Representatives convened a little body to look after him on his way home on his final journey, and they presented this to the owner of a boardinghouse who must have put up the party. And I love the inscription at the bottom. It says she was "an excellent American...

GUEST: American housewife."

APPRAISER: I've never seen another one, and I searched others to see if perhaps there were other people who received one. We haven't found one. If it were an ordinary piece of American coin silver from 1848, a nice baluster-form pitcher with no engraving, it would certainly be worth a few hundred dollars as a little collectible item.

GUEST: That's what I thought.

APPRAISER: But the engraving escalates it into presidential memorabilia. And there isn't that much stuff related to John Quincy Adams.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: This is a nice Boston-made pitcher, right from the time of his death and directly connected to that. And so when you bought it at the estate sale, how much did you pay for it?

GUEST: Well, I paid $600 because I knew it had more value because of that, but...

APPRAISER: And were you afraid of that price?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Yeah? I sensed you were. Well, I discussed it with a couple of my colleagues. I would say today, in a good auction of historical Americana, this pitcher should bring at least $1,500.

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change:
The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the
location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date:
Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values
change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key:
Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or
"retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she
knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though
there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher
than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations:
The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document,
generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of
research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value:
As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and
collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among
experts.

Appraiser affiliations:
Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the
ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index
also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.